Mine-door-controlling apparatus.



No. 859.522. PATENTED JULYQ, 1907.

A. s. ROBINSON. MINEDOOR CONTROLLING APPARATUS.

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AMOS S. ROB INSON, OF NELSONVILLE, OHIO.

MINE-DOOR-OONTROLLING APPARATUS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 9,1907.

Application filed November 14,1906. Serial No. 343,339.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, AMos S.'ROBINSON, a citizen of the United States,residing at Nelsonville, in the county of Athens and State of Ohio, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Mine-Door- ControllingApparatus, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to mine door controlling apparatus and has for itsobject the provision of a device of this character adapted to open andclose mine doors with a minimum of power and with a minimum of strainupon said doors. Y

Further objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in thedetailed description which now follows:

In the accompanying drawing: Figure 1 is a plan view of a deviceconstructed in accordance with the invention, Fig. 2 is a view inelevation illustrating a pair of mine doors and illustrating the railsforming the track in section, Fig. 3 is a detail view of one of thegrooved pulleys hereinafter described, and, Fig. 4 is a detail view ofthe weighted members for closing the doors.

Like numerals designate corresponding parts in all of the figures of thedrawing.

Referring to the drawing, the numerals 5 designate the two rails whichform a mine railway.

The numeral 6 designates the framework which supports the doors thatclose the shaft. Mounted in this framework are shafts 7 to which thedoors 8 are secured, said doors turning with the shafts. Mounted uponthe upper ends of these shafts are grooved pulleys 9 and 10. Thesepulleys are connected by a chain 11, said chain having turn buckles 12located therein for the purpose of tightening the same. A bolt 13 passesthrough the chain and into the grooved pulleys to prevent the chainsfrom slipping from the pulleys. The chain 11 provides means forimparting movement to the left hand door in Fig. 2, from the shaft ofthe right hand door. Mounted upon the lower end of the shaft of thisright hand door, the lower end ofthis shaft being mounted in a bracket14, is a bevel pinion 15. This pinion meshes with a bevel gear wheel 16which is fast upon a shaft 17. This gear wheel 16 is slightly larger 4ithan the pinion 15. It is to be understood, however,

that I do not limit myself to any exact proportions between these gearwheels, as any desired ratio between said gear wheels may be used. Aplurality of crank arms 18 are secured to the shaft 17. These crank armsare connected by transversely disposed rods 19 with a rail 20. This railis formed by a piece of angle iron, though it is to be understood thatit may be of any desired form in cross section.

The transversely disposed rods 19 pass through bearings 20 and rest uponrollers 21 which are mounted in said bearings. The shaft 17 liesparallel with one of the rails 5 and is mounted in bearings 22.Triangular brackets 23 are secured to this shaft 17 and pivoted to oneend of these triangular brackets as at 24 are links the right. Thisentire rail moves bodily to the right as the car progresses toward thedoors 8, said wheel riding along the inclined portion 20 of the rail 20.When this rail is thus forced toward the right, the rods 19 throughtheir connection with the cranks 18 rock the shaft 17. This in turnimparts a partial rotation to the gear wheel 16 and through the bevelpinion 14 imparts a partial rotation to the shaft 7. This swings theright hand door 8 open to the dotted line position illustrated in Fig. 1and through the chain 11 imparts a like motion to the left hand door 8.Handles 29 are secured to these doors and provide means for permittingthe miners to pass through when desired, since these doors may be pulledopen by these handles. After a car passes, the weights 26 act to returnthe parts to the position shown in the drawing, the overlapping ends ofthe battens 30 stopping these doors at their central position.

By referring to Fig. 4, it will be seen that during the initial movementof the, shaft 17, the fulcrum 24 moves over toward said shaft, renderingit easy to raise the weights. It is desirable, however, that the fullforce of these weights be available when they start to close the door.To this end the arm 27 is provided. After the weights have been partlyraised, the lower ends of the arms 27 contact with the links 25 andforce the Weights out to the dotted line position shown in Fig. 4. Thefull force of these weights is therefore available.

From, the foregoing description, it will be seen that simple andefficient means are herein provided for ac complishing the objects ofthe invention, but while the elements shown and described are welladapted to serve the purposes for which they are intended, it is to beunderstood that the invention is not limited to the precise constructionset forth, for instance, if it be desired to have both of the doors openin the same direction instead of opening in opposite directions, thismay be readily accomplished by merely crossing the chain 11 in the usualand well known manner. Opening these doors in the opposite direction asshown, is, however,

desirable, for the reason that there is usually a strong In other Words,one of the doors will be opened in the direction of the air current,while the other door will be opened against said air current.

What I claim is:

1. The combination with a mine railway, of a bodily movable rail whichmoves over one of the rails of said railway, transversely disposed rodsconnected to said rail and passing beneath the other of said rails, arock shaft, crank arms connected to said rock shaft and to saidtransversely disposed rods, :1 pair of mine doors, and connectionsbetween said rock shaft and one of said mine doors and means forsimultaneously opening said doors in opposite directions.

2. The combination with a mine railway, of a bodily movable rail whichmoves over one of the rails of said railway, transversely disposed rodsconnected to said rail and passing beneath the other of said rails, arock shaft, crank arms connected to said rock shaft, and to saidtransversely disposed rods, a pair of mine doors, connections betweensaid rock shaft and one of said mine doors, means for simultaneouslyopening said doors, and weights for returning said doors to their closedposition.

3. The combination with a mine railway, of a bodily movable rail whichmoves over one of the rails of said railway, transversely disposed rodsconnected to said rail and passing beneath the other of said rails, arock shaft, crank arms connected to said rock shaft, and to saidtransversely disposed rods, a pair of mine doors, connections betweensaid rock shaft and one of said mine doors, meansfor simultaneouslyopening said doors, a bracket carried by said rock shaft, 2. linkpivotedto one of the arms of said bracket, and a weight pivoted to thelower end of said link, the lower end of said bracket being adapted tocontact with said link to throw the weight away from the rock shaft,substantially as described.

4. The combination with a mine railway, of a bodily movable rail whichmoves over one of the rails of said railway, a rock shaft, crank armsconnected to said rock shaft, connecting rods between said crank armsand the bodily movable rail, a pair of upright shafts, a mine doorconnected to each of said upright shafts, connections between said minedoors for causing them to move simul taneously, a bevel gear wheel uponone of the upright shafts, and a bevel gear Wheel upon the rock shaftwith which said first named bevel gear wheel meshes.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

AMOS S. ROBINSON.

Witnesses A. J. JUNIPER, JOHN HILL.

